Kill A Fly In The Past
by raeweis
Summary: What if you could change the past? What if you were given the chance to fix the one mistake that ruined your life? Would you take that chance? Rated T just in case. *FIXED
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, I went back and edited this entire story to fix my mistake in the later chapters. Enjoy!**

**Diclaimer: Rience belongs to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 1-

It was a pleasant autumn day. The sun shone down, illuminating everything within its warm glow. A slight breeze stirred the leaves of a massive oak tree. In the oak tree sat a male anthropomorphic rat. The rat had shifty green eyes and ragged gray fur. The rat just sat there, perched on the branch, green eyes watching, observing, searching. Finally, they found what they had been searching for.

A male anthropomorphic hedgehog walked along the path, tossing a shiny red object in the air and catching it again. The hedgehog had black fur with red stripes on his arms and legs, red highlights on his spikes, and piercing red eyes, all matching the object he had in his hand. He walked on, oblivious to the rat watching him.

The rat snickered. "This is be too easy." he thought as he continued to watch the hedgehog. Soon, the hedgehog disappeared from sight. The rat dropped down from the tree, landing lightly on all fours. Standing up, he began to follow the hedgehog, keeping a safe distance behind him.

They walked on for a long while, until the hedgehog came to a stop at the edge of an enormous city. The rat stopped too and, to be safe, hid behind some bushes out of sight. He continued to watch as the hedgehog hesitated, looking at the city, taking in every little detail; all the buildings, the parked cars, and the countless humans walking hurriedly along the sidewalks.

"Take all in, Shadow the Hedgehog," the rat thought with a smirk, "Soon, there nothing shall be to view."

**VvVvVvV**

Shadow the Hedgehog walked through the streets of Central City, tossing a ruby red chaos emerald in the air. As he walked, he felt the stares of all the people. Shadow felt uncomfortable under all their gazes. "Of course they are looking at me," Shadow thought, a slight smirk appearing on his face, "I am the Ultimate Lifeform!"

Even as he thought this, Shadow knew the humans not only looked at him in awe, they also watched him, suspicious. Sure, he had saved them (with help from Sonic the Hedgehog) from the Eclipse Cannon (Ok, it was kind of his fault it fired in the first place, but why dwell on the past?) and later saved them from the Black Arms invasion, yet they still did not trust him. He pushed the thoughts away. Why should he care what the humans thought?

Soon Shadow's thoughts wandered into memories, memories of a certain blonde haired, blue-eyed girl; Maria. He could remember her laugh, her smile, her death... He shook his head, clearing away the memories. That was the past. He had to focus on the present.

Shadow realized he had stopped walking, had stopped tossing the emerald too. His hands were balled into fists, the emerald being crushed within his grasp. He loosened his grip before the emerald could be shattered, and continued walking.

He had been off on a mission for GUN. There had been a disturbance out on Angel Island, and he was sent to check it out. It had only been that idiot Knuckles, searching for the Master Emerald. He claimed Rouge the Bat had stolen it. The Master Emerald merely fell of its shrine and lay a few feet away. Embarrassed, Knuckles had thanked Shadow and Shadow left, annoyed. It had been a waste of time.

"Shadow the Hedgehog."

A voice came from behind Shadow, snapping him out of his thoughts. Shadow spun around fast and came face to face with a ragged grey rat with green eyes.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Shadow demanded.

"I be Rience the Rat. And it not be what I want. It what is you want." the rat said.

"Huh?" Shadow said confused.

"I know what you be think. You think of Maria," the rat, Rience said. Shadow's eyes widened. "You fail her so long back. But you can change if that you want."

Shadow wasn't sure what the rat meant. Frustrated he growled, "What are you saying? Start making some sense or I'm leaving! What about Maria?"

Amused, Rience smiled. "You can change past. You can save her."

"What? How?"

"I can send you back, back to ARK, to day she had death, if that be what you choose..."

Shadow wasted no time with an answer. "I'll do it! Send me back, now!" He could report back to GUN about his mission later.

The rat chuckled, "If that be your choice..."

Rience lifted his hands. The wind picked up slightly, blowing around leaves and discarded trash that lay in the streets. A swirling purple portal opened up in front of Shadow. Oddly, none of the humans seemed to notice. "Now, Shadow the Hedgehog, enter portal. Save her!" Rience said, smiling kindly; almost too kindly.

Shadow ignored the thought as he looked at the portal. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then stepped into the portal.

**VvVvVvV**

Shadow opened his eyes to find himself looking out a large window at a vast blue and green planet. Earth. Shadow gasped, looking around. He was on the Space Colony ARK! Behind him Shadow heard footsteps and a lot of panting. He turned, only to see another hedgehog, a black and red anthropomorphic hedgehog. The hedgehog was holding onto the hand of a young girl as they ran down the narrow hallway. Shadow was able to recognize them immediately. Maria! Shadow thought, and….me?

It was true. He was watching his past self and Maria run along the hallway. So that means….

Before he could finish the thought Shadow saw many soldiers, GUN soldiers, chasing his younger self and Maria. They were getting closer. No, Shadow thought, I won't fail. Not again.

Shadow used chaos control to teleport himself between the fleeing hedgehog and girl, and the soldiers. His younger self stopped and turned around, moth opened to say something. Shadow didn't let him speak.

"Go! Get to the escape pods! I'll hold them back!" Shadow commanded.

The young Shadow looked like he was going to protest, opening his mouth to speak. I don't have time for this, Shadow thought. The soldiers were getting closer. "Go! Now!" he shouted.

The young Shadow clamped his mouth shut, nodded, and then took off with Maria down the hallway. Shadow sighed with relief before turning his attention to the pursuing soldiers. The soldiers stopped in front of him. "We lost sight of the girl, but we have found Project: Shadow." One of the soldiers spoke into his radio.

Shadow smirked, before pulling out his chaos emerald. "Chaos….BLAST!"

The soldiers stood, dumbfounded, as they were engulfed by a huge red ball of light. When the light faded, no soldier was left standing. Shadow looked out the window to see two of the escape pods fall to the Earth. I've done it! Shadow thought, ecstatic. I've saved Maria!

"Done well, Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow couldn't see Rience, but he recognized the rat's voice and poor grammar. "Now, back to time your own."

A purple swirling portal opened up in front of Shadow. Smiling, Shadow stepped into the portal.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Rience and Brooke belong to me while everyone else belongs to SEGA.**

-Chapter 2-

Shadow opened his eyes to find himself in a room he did not recognize. He looked around, and then remembered. He was in his room, in the apartment he and Brooke Brockwell shared. Wait? Brooke? Who was Brooke?

After a moment of thinking, a memory resurfaced in his mind. Brooke was Maria and Brock's (Brock was Maria's husband) daughter. Brock was working far away in some government lab and Maria... she was dead.

_"How can that be? I saved her!"_ Shadow thought to himself.

"Shadow!"

Shadow heard Brooke call him. He walked out of his room and into the kitchen where Brooke was. Brooke was a young adult, around the age of eighteen. She had mid-length brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and bright blue eyes, almost identical to Maria's. She wore a simple blue tank top and tight black pants.

"Good. You're awake." Brooke was studying a bunch of documents. They almost looked like battle plans.

"What's going on?" He asked.

She looked at him like he was stupid. "Are you kidding me? We have to get ready for the battle. The attack starts at midnight."

"The attack..." A thousand memories flooded his mind. He soon realized what was going on.

After the escape pods him and Maria had ridden in had landed on Earth, him and Maria had gone into hiding. GUN was searching for Project: Shadow. After spending many years in hiding, Shadow and Maria heard news that GUN had given up the search. Shadow and Maria had then begun their new lives on Earth. Soon after, Maria's illness spread. There was a huge NIDS outbreak that left the world weakened. Tensions were high between the countries. Then the President died. They said he was murdered. One false accusation later the whole world was at war. Later they discovered that the president had not been murdered. He had been killed by a freak accident including nachos and a swimming pool. He had drowned.

The world was left weakened, prime for the conquering. And conquered it was. Rience the Rat and his army proceeded in taking over GUN, then the world. No one could stop them. Not even the Ultimate Lifeform. Maria had died soon after, her disease finally taking her life. Before she died, she had gotten married and had a daughter, Brooke. Her husband, Brock Brockwell was sent to a government lab across the ocean to develop new weapons. They were forming a secret rebel group. The world was in ruins. Rience the Rat ruled over his empire with an iron fist. Even the slightest misstep could be punishable with death. And it was all Shadow's fault, all because he had gone back in time and saved Maria.

_"How odd."_ Shadow thought, "_I can remember everything that has happened to me in this life, but I can also remember my other lifetime._"

"Shadow? Shadow? Are you even listening to me?" Brooke waved her hand in front of Shadow's face, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"No." he answered truthfully.

Brooke gave an exasperated sigh. "I was saying that we're going to join up with the Resistance. We can't fight this by ourselves. We need help. They can help us."

"Hmmm...I don't know. What do we even know about these guys? What if they are secretly working for the rat?"

"You worry too much, Shadow." Brooke said. She smiled sheepishly. "Besides, I've already invited over a few members to go over battle tactics. They should be here any minute now."

"You did what? Brooke, how could you be so..."

Shadow was cut off by a knock at the door. "Shadow, could you get that?" Brooke smiled innocently at Shadow.

He sighed. "Fine."

Shadow walked over to the door and pulled it open. He was expecting the members of the Resistance to be big and muscular, covered in scars, maybe one with an eye patch, and human. He was unable to supress his shock when he opened the door to find...

"Sonic?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 3-

Sonic the hedgehog stood there, confused, and slightly freaked out. "How do you know my name?"

A thought struck Shadow. Of course Sonic didn't recognize him. In this life, they had never met. Shadow struggled for an explanation as to why he knew Sonic's name. "I... uh...I've heard a lot about you...and I recognized you from the...Uhh…descriptions others have given me."

Sonic didn't look satisfied with this answer. He was about to press Shadow further for information when a certain red echidna growled, "Could we get on with this all ready?"

Just as the echidna spoke, Brooke walked up behind Shadow. "You must be members of the Resistance." She said, holding her hand out to Sonic, "I'm Brooke Brockwell, and this," she gestured to Shadow, "is Shadow the Hedgehog."

Sonic shook her hand, "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." He grinned his trademark grin, and then gestured to a two tailed fox behind him, "This is Miles 'Tails' Prower and this," he gestured to the red echidna, "is Knuckles the Echidna."

"Now that we all know each other," Knuckles said impatiently, "Can we please get this over with?" He obviously did not want to be here.

The fox, Tails, spoke up. "I agree with Knuckles. We should really get on with this meeting. The sooner we can attack the better."

"Of course. Come in." Brooke and Shadow stepped back from the door and allowed their guests to enter the apartment. As Sonic passed Shadow he gave him a suspicious look. Shadow glared at him.

They all settled themselves around the kitchen table as Brooke spread out various battle plans. "I thought we could go with a classic ambush." Brooke said, picking up one of the pieces of paper, "We could split into four groups. One group approaches from the North, one from the South, one from the East, and one from the West."

"It's good, except for one thing." Tails said, "We don't have enough guys to be able to contain the enemy within the ambush. We'd be spread out too thinly and the enemy could easily break out of it."

Brooke frowned. "I'd never thought of that. Well, what else could we do?"

Tails pulled a sheet of paper out from who knows where and laid it on the table. "I was thinking we could somehow corner the enemy, but that requires more manpower than we have."

Knuckles growled angrily. "We don't have enough guys to do anything! We're outnumbered. The only thing we can do is..."

Knuckles was cut off by the sound of sirens blaring. "What the…" Sonic looked out the window. "Uh oh, looks like we've got company."

The animals and Brooke rushed out of the building only to find themselves surrounded by robotic anthropomorphic rats; Rience's army. Shadow sized up their opponents. "This should prove easy enough." he said with a smirk.

Knuckles looked at him, exasperated. "What!? We're outnumbered one hundred to five! "

Shadow's smirk broadened. "Exactly. Easy."

Knuckles rolled his eyes as Sonic shouted "Here they come!"

The robotic rats surged forward. Knuckles began punching his way through hordes of robots. Sonic spin dashed his way to the outside of the robots, then began running really fast around them, making them dizzy and confused. Sonic followed up with another spin dash through countless robots, while Shadow unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears on the rats. Tails also performed a few spin dashes of his own. Brooke fended off the attacking robots using a fighting stave that she had grabbed before leaving the apartment. The group of rebels were fighting of the robots well, but each time one enemy was destroyed, a new one would appear in its place. The rebels began feeling tired; they couldn't keep it up for much longer.

Knuckles and Shadow stood back to back, peppering the robots with kicks and punches. "Hey Shadow," Knuckles looked over his shoulder, "Still think this is going to be easy?" Shadow only grunted as he dispatched another rat.

Sonic used his homing attack on one of the rats that had snuck up behind Tails. Once the rat was destroyed, Sonic spoke to Tails. "We're never going to be able to defeat all of these robots. We have to retreat. Tails, fly up into the air and see if you can spot an escape route."

"Right." Tails nodded as he began spinning his two tails around like a propeller. Once in the air, Tails began scouting for an escape route. Noticing a very shiny object, being used to signal him, Tails shouted down to Sonic. "Sonic! Over there!"

Sonic noticed the signal too. "Alright. Everybody, retreat over there!" Sonic then proceeded in spin dashing through hordes of enemies to create a clear path. Shadow followed suit.

The rebels ran along the new path Sonic and Shadow had created and ran towards the signal. It had come from a subway tunnel. Inside the tunnel the group came face to face with a very familiar pink hedgehog; Amy Rose. "Hiya Sonic! Miss me?" She wrapped Sonic in a giant bear hug.

"Yeah, sure Amy. Now if you don't mind..." Sonic said struggling out of Amy's grasp.

"Right. This way."

Amy lead the group through various tunnels until they finally reached a door. Amy opened the door. "Welcome." she greeted as the group filed into the room. Shadow and Brooke looked confused, both wondering where they were. Tails noticed their confusion.

"This is our old base. We don't use it too often, but it's always good to have around, as you can see."

Shadow and Brooke nodded as Amy asked Sonic, "Who are they?"

"That's Brooke Brockwell, and that's Shadow." he said.

"Oh. Hello!" Amy said cheerily.

They all sat in silence. Finally Sonic broke it. "So...What now?"

"What can we do?" Knuckles growled, slamming his fists on one of the wooden tables. "There's no way we can defeat Rience and his army."

They all looked at Knuckles, shocked. "Knuckles..." Tails was cut off by a knock on the door. "Amy, who else knows where this place is?"

"No one that I know of."

"Should we open it?" Tails asked Sonic as the stranger knocked some more.

Before Sonic could answer, the door swung open to reveal another hedgehog, resembling Shadow in almost every way, except with green eyes and powder blue stripes instead of Shadow's red ones. Shadow recognized him immediately.

"Mephiles." He growled, narrowing his eyes.

If Mephiles had a mouth, he would've smirked. "Shadow."

Sonic was confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mephiles, Mephiles the Dark. What, did you forget me already?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 4-

Shadow let out a low growl, while Sonic, still looking confused, said, "Yeah...I still have no idea who you are."

Mephiles made a tsk sound. "I'm hurt that you do not remember, though it seems your friend here," Mephiles looked at Shadow, "knows exactly who I am."

"What are you doing here Mephiles? You were trapped in the Scepter of Darkness. How did you escape? Why do you still look like me?" Shadow asked.

"It's a funny story really..."

~Flashback~

A teenage girl with mid length reddish hair and blue eyes rushed into her father's study, furiously scribbling words onto a piece of paper. She had forgotten to do her homework again! "Elise! Hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" someone called from another room.

"I'm going!" the girl, Elise, said.

Right when she was about to finish, her pen ran out of ink. Elise frantically searched her father's study for another pen. In one of the drawers was a staff like object with a glowing purplish colored handle. Elise mistook this odd staff as a pen. She tried to write with it. It didn't work. She threw the staff onto her father's desk angrily.

To her surprise, the staff broke open, releasing a long black and purple serpent like mist. The mist rose into the sky before plunging into the ground in front of Elise. Elsie watched in horror as her shadow was sucked into this mist, and a shape grew from the mist. It looked just like her. Elsie screamed before hightailing it out of there. The other her, none other than Mephiles, looked at his new form.

"Dang."

~End Flashback~

Mephiles continued with his story. "I left and began to search for a new form to take. I traveled all the way to this land where I found you." He looked at Sonic. "He was stuffing his face with chilidogs. I took his shadow, but I still did not find it to my satisfaction. I left to look for a new form once again."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember being followed by a teenage girl. So that was you?" Sonic said, trying to ignore the fact that Mephiles had not liked his shadow.

"Yes." Mephiles said as Sonic entered a flashback….

~Flashback (again)~

Sonic walked down the street, a chilidog in each hand. He hadn't been able to relax like this in a long time. As he walked, Sonic noticed that someone was following him. He turned his head a little and saw a teenage girl. Thinking nothing of it, Sonic kept walking. He didn't notice the teenage girl turn into an exact copy of himself, except where Sonic was blue, the other copy was a powder blue color.

~End Flashback (ok that one was kind of lame. Oh well)~

"Anyway, I continued my search for a better form. I had been searching for a long while when I saw all of you fighting. I recognized Shadow here as the one who sealed me in the Scepter of Darkness to begin with so I thought it was only fair that I take his form…."

"Wait," Shadow interrupted. "In this life, I didn't seal you away. How do you remember me sealing you if it never happened?"

"I can time travel. As you should know, time travel works in mysterious ways." Mephiles said. Everyone, excluding Mephiles and Shadow, looked confused.

"So that answers the 'how' and sort of answers the 'why', but why are you here, in this room?" Sonic asked.

"I have come to help you." Mephiles replied simply.

"And just why should we trust you?" Shadow asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Do you want my help?"

"Not really"

Knuckles ended Mephiles and Shadow's back and forth. "Maybe we should let him help."

Tails nodded. "We could use all the help we can get."

Shadow growled angrily. "You are making a big mistake." He warned.

Mephiles turned and began to leave. "I am leaving now. It was nice meeting you."

Knuckles was furious. "What? You said you were going to help us! Where are you going?"

"I'm off to find Johnny Sash." He said as he left the room. "Remember, Shadow the Hedgehog, just as a flower comes from a seed, or a chicken comes from an egg, everything has an origin. You need to find the event originally responsible for this catastrophe."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 5-

"Well that was…odd." Tails said as Mephiles exited the room. Knuckles crossed his arms, annoyed.

"Hmph, some help he was." Knuckles said, arms still crossed, eyes closed. (Shadow was slightly peeved that Knuckles had stolen his signature crossed armed-eyes closed-grunting thing he always did but kept his complaints to himself.)

Sonic, who had been standing there confused for the majority of the conversation, spoke up. "…..What just happened?"

Everyone shrugged their shoulders. "Well, I guess we should get back to planning the attack." Brooke suggested.

"Right." Tails agreed.

They all began to think of battle plans. The group stopped when Sonic piped up "I've got it!", but returned to thinking right after he said "No, that wouldn't work. Never mind."

Finally, Tails had an idea. "We could attack Rience's warehouse first." He suggested. "We can split into two groups; one group attacks the warehouse while the other attacks the robots guarding Rience's headquarters. That way they won't be able to send reinforcements."

"We still have a problem." Knuckles said, "We wouldn't have enough manpower to destroy all the robots at the warehouse _and _Rience's headquarters. Besides, the minute we ended our attack he would just start building his army again. We'll be back to where we started."

"We're looking at this all wrong." Shadow said after a moment of silence. "Instead of attacking Rience's army, we should be attacking Rience himself. Knuckles is right. Rience will just keep building up his army. However, If Rience is gone, he can't build his army. Without Rience, the empire falls."

"That's genius!" Tails said, very impressed and excited. Brooke smiled.

"They don't call him the 'Ultimate Lifeform' for nothing!" she said as Shadow crossed his arms, closed his eyes, grunted proudly (If that's even possible.), and smirked, probably thinking, "Yep. I pull this stance off way better than that knucklehead."

"Alright," Shadow spoke again, "Here's the plan…"

The plan was simple. Sonic called in the rest of the members of the Resistance. They all split into five groups; Team Sonic (Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails), Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and Omega), Team Rose (Amy, Brooke, and Bunnie D'Coolette), Team Acorn (Sally Acorn, Antoine D'Coolette, and NICOLE (In her holographic form)) and Team Chaotix (Vector, Espio, and Charmy). Team Rose and Team Acorn would attack Rience's army, creating a distraction. Meanwhile Team Sonic and Team Dark would sneak into Rience's Headquarters and find Rience. They would defeat him and put an end to the empire. Team Chaotix were there mostly for back up.

The Resistance spent the rest of that day preparing for the attack. At midnight that night, they began their attack. It started off perfectly. Team Rose and Team Acorn managed to create a big enough distraction to allow Team Sonic and Team Dark to sneak up to Rience's HQ. Once there, Tails managed to shut down the security system just long enough for the two groups to get into the building unnoticed. Or at least, they thought they went unnoticed.

Inside the building, the two teams split up. Each team took a different section of the building. Team Sonic took the east half while Team Dark took west.

The western half of the building was completely silent. There wasn't anyone there, not even sign that anyone had been there in the last year or so. Shadow contacted Sonic using the COM device Tails had given to each of the groups. "There's no activity in the west half. We're going to circle back and meet you guys at the entrance."

"Roger that!" Sonic said. Then he added, "I think we've found something. We're going to check it out."

"Alright. Just don't do anything stupid. Understood?" Shadow didn't want to risk anything bad happening. They were so close.

"Understood." Sonic said. "Over and out."

Shadow began walking with Rouge and Omega at his heels. This reminded him of missions he had gone on for GUN. Shadow was lost in thought until the COM device went off. "You guys have to get over here right now!" Sonic sounded very worried.

"We'll be there in a minute."

Team Dark picked up the pace until they were speeding down the hallways. Eventually they found Team Sonic. Shadow then understood why Sonic was so worried. Lying on the floor was a large red and yellow hammer. It was Amy's Piko Piko hammer.

"He's got her!" Sonic growled. "That dirty rat, how could he stoop so low?"

Shadow shook his head. "There's no time to think about that."

Tails nodded. "Right. We have to find Rience. Where Rience is, Amy should be too."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sonic took off down the hallway with Shadow at his heels, leaving the rest of the animals in the dust.

In no time at all they had made it to what they assumed was Rience's main office. They smashed through the huge double doors and stood in their ready stances, prepared for a fight. That fight never came.

Rience stood with his back to the two hedgehogs, gazing out a large window. "I thought be here sooner." He said as he turned to the hedgehogs.

"Sorry about that. We decided to stop for a quick snack before coming here." Sonic said, grinning. "Wouldn't want to fight on an empty stomach."

"Surrender now or face the consequences." Shadow growled. His growl combined with his piercing glare was enough to make anyone cower. Rience, however, smiled.

"Would never I dream of surrender. It be you who shall fall on this war ground."

"I'd like to see that." Sonic said, "We'll destroy you before you can say 'Chilidog'!" (Shadow mentally face palmed at this remark. The Sonic in his other lifetime was much better at coming up with witty comments.)

"Words of bravery." Rience said, frowning. He then began to laugh maniacally. "Very well. Do your worst." As Sonic and Shadow charged at Rience, Rience began to laugh more before saying, "But first," He pulled a remote from somewhere behind his back and pressed a button.

Shadow and Sonic stopped, curious to see what this remote controlled. The room began to shake as a section of the floor opened up. A glass cylinder rose from the floor. Sonic let out a gasp. Inside the cylinder was…

"Amy!"

"Sonic!" Amy yelled, pounding on the glass.

Sonic was furious. "If you so much as touch her I am going to..."

"Now, now, Sonic. You'd best watch temper." Rience scolded as he pressed another button on the remote. The floor beneath Sonic and Shadow began to shake. "Sayonara, Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog."

Before either of the hedgehogs could react the floor opened up beneath them. Rience laughed as they began to plummet into the dark pit below.

"Sonic!" Amy cried, pounding at the glass harder.

Rience's laugh grew quieter as Shadow and Sonic fell further. They were falling fast and gaining more speed as they continued their descent. In the dim lighting Shadow was able to make out the ground rushing towards him. He wasn't able to right himself as his body collided with the hard ground. His vision was blurring. He knew he was blacking out.

"No, I must stay awake." Shadow thought as he struggled to stay conscious, "I have to stay awake. Don't…blackout…No…"

It was no use. Shadow struggled once more, before he was engulfed by the dark hands of unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 6-

Antoine felt as though he had been fighting for hours, yet had made no progress. Every robot they destroyed was replaced by a new robot. Team Rose and Team Acorn fought bravely, but they were no match for Rience's army. Antoine was thinking about calling for a retreat when he heard Sally gasp. After slicing through another robot with his sword, Antoine turned to Sally. Sally was standing back to back with Bunnie. Bunnie was fighting with all of her strength, while Sally just stood there looking alarmed. "Where did Amy go?" She asked as she dodged one of the robots. Sally resumed fighting as Antoine began looking around. He too was unable to see the pink hedgehog.

"She was beside me only a minute ago." Brooke said. The group began looking around worried. The waves of robots had ceased for now. They took this time to catch their breath and plan their next move.

"Team Sonic and Team Dark successfully infiltrated Rience's HQ," Sally addressed the members of the Resistance. "With any luck they'll be done soon and we'll be able to leave."

As she spoke another onslaught of robots surrounded the animals. They all took up fighting stances and attacked, tearing through robot after robot. The robots were overpowering them, pushing them back until they all stood back to back with each other. _We won't be able to hold them off much longer._ Antoine thought as he dodged another attack. He swung his sword at the attacking rat but barely managed to leave a mark. He wanted to call a retreat, but knew it would be impossible for them to escape. All available exits were blocked off by the robots.

Antoine was too distracted by his thoughts to notice the robot that had snuck up beside him. Antoine turned just as the robot lashed out with its giant metal claws. Antoine closed his eyes, ready for the pain to come. When it never did, he opened his eyes to see the robot had been reduced to scrap metal. Behind the pile of scrap metal stood another robot, this one much taller and bulkier than the others. E-123 Omega.

"It's 'bout time yall showed up!" said Bunnie. Though her tone was annoyed, relief was clear on her face. Antoine saw that a white bat, Rouge, had also joined the fight, along with Knuckles and Tails.

"Sonic and that other hedgehog should be able to handle old Rience by themselves." Knuckles said as he began smashing robots with his fists. "We figured you guys might need a little help out here. Looks like we were right!"

As the fighting continued, a crocodile, a chameleon, and a bee were entering into the HQ. It had been a while since the hedgehogs had gone in, and they were worried that something had gone wrong. "Alright," said the crocodile, Vector. "Let's start on the..."

He was cut off by a terrified cry. "That sounded like Amy!" the chameleon, Espio said.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go see what she's crying about!" Charmy Bee said as he flew off down the hallway, Vector and Espio at his heels.

Meanwhile, down in the dark pit, Shadow had begun to regain consciousness. The floor had closed above them, submerging them in complete darkness. Well, it was almost complete darkness. There was something else down in the pit that gave off a weak glow, not enough to illuminate anything. Shadow rose to his feet. His entire body ached from the fall and he felt a tad bit sick but he ignored it. He looked over at Sonic, who was kneeling on the ground, breathing very heavily.

Shadow took a step towards Sonic, but stopped as he saw a dark blue aura surround the blue hedgehog. _What the… _As Shadow's eyes began to adjust to the darkness he realized that the weak glow came from what looked like Chaos Emeralds. _Fake emeralds? _He wondered. That would explain the sick feeling he had. _Why are there…oh no._ Shadow watched as Sonic turned a very dark blue color. His eyes seemed to take on a more sinister appearance, with his pupils and irises completely gone, only the whites of his eyes could be seen. _Not Dark Sonic again._

Dark Sonic had stood up and was laughing menacingly, an evil smirk plastered to his face. Shadow assessed the situation. "I'm stuck in a dark pit with no obvious way of escape. I'm also stuck down here with multiple fake Chaos Emeralds and a very angry Sonic. At least things couldn't get any worse." He thought.

As soon as he thought that he heard what sounded like water dripping. The dripping got faster and faster until he could hear water pouring out from the walls. He felt the icy claws of the water pool at his feet. It was rising quickly. Soon it had reached his knees, then his waist. He looked over and saw that Dark Sonic had begun to panic. The water was now at Shadow's throat. _Of course. How cliché._

He treaded the water as he thought of ways to escape. He hadn't noticed any doors in the pit so that was out of the question. He wasn't sure how strong the walls were, but the fall had left him weakened and he knew he would never be able to break through them.

Behind him Shadow heard a lot of loud splashing. He turned just as Dark Sonic disappeared beneath the water's surface. Shadow dove into the water and resurfaced with a panicking Dark Sonic. Dark Sonic thrashed wildly about, making it harder for Shadow to keep them both afloat. As the water level rose, Shadow and Dark Sonic rose with it. Shadow saw that they were getting closer to the roof. If he didn't think of something soon they would surely drown. That's when Shadow remembered something. "Try to stay above water. I've got an idea." He said to Sonic, whose Dark form had started to wear off as his fear overrode his anger. Before Sonic could answer Shadow dove beneath the surface and began his descent.

It was very dark under the water. Shadow was unable to see even his hands churning the water as he swam farther down. Then he saw them; the fake emeralds. He snatched one up and began swimming back up to the surface.

The water was now only about a meter from the ceiling. Sonic struggled to keep himself above the water. Shadow resurfaced, coughing up a little bit of water as he gasped for breath. "I sure hope this works." He thought as he grabbed Sonic's arm and lifted the fake emerald above his head.

"Chaos Contr.."

The water had finally reached the ceiling, completely submerging the two hedgehogs. There was a bright flash beneath the water.

"…ol!" Shadow finished as he and Sonic appeared in a bright flash in one of the hallways in Rience's HQ. They appeared right in front of Vector, Espio, and Charmy, nearly giving the trio a heart attack. Shadow and Sonic sat on the ground gasping for air.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Vector as he watched the hedgehogs cough up small amounts of water. "What happened?"

"I. Hate. Water." Sonic said once he had caught his breath. Shadow rose to his feet and told Team Chaotix a very condensed version of what had happened.

Once he had finished, Sonic spoke up. "We have to find Amy before Rience tries to hurt her."

"It's your lucky day. We were just about to do the same thing!" Vector said. "All of Rience's robots are outside fighting, so this should be easy!"

Just as he said that the building's security alarms went off. From somewhere down the hall the group could here robots approaching. "So much for easy." Espio said as the group took off in the opposite direction of the robots.

They ran blindly down hallways, narrowly avoiding robots, until they finally came to a dead end. "Now what?" Charmy asked as he flew around in a panic.

"We have to find a way to turn these alarms off, but how?" Shadow was frantically searching over all the walls for something they may have overlooked. Nothing. That's when Vector spoke up.

"Find the computer room!"

It was a wonder Shadow didn't snap Vector's neck then and there. Sonic, however, thought it was a great idea. "Let's go!" he said as he took off back down the hallway. The rest of the group followed.

As they turned a corner they saw a large group of security robots ahead of them. A few spin dashes, chaos spears, and shurikens later, the robots lay in heaps, circuits still sparking. The group took off once again.

They managed to make it to the computer room without running into any more robots. Once in there, Espio began hacking the computer's database. Vector hovered impatiently over his shoulder. "Are you done yet? Are you done yet? How 'bout now?"

Espio ignored him and continued tapping on the keyboard. Shadow began to grow impatient too. "Here, let me help."

Before Espio could protest Shadow unleashed a few chaos spears on the computer. Surprisingly, this worked. The alarms shut off and the group all let out a sigh of relief. "Now let's go find Amy."

Although the main computer had been destroyed, the surveillance cameras were still in working condition. Using the cameras the group was able to find Amy. She was no longer in the glass cylinder, but in a jail cell.

"If this Rience guy has a dungeon it's probably in the basement!" Charmy concluded.

"I think that's the most useful thing you've said all day." Vector replied, patting Charmy on the back.

"Does that mean I get candy?"

"NO!" everyone shouted.

Charmy put on a pouting face. Sonic spoke up. "Let's go find this basement then and get Amy." Sonic turned his attention to Shadow. "You can use Chaos Control. Do you think you could Chaos Control us to the basement?"

He looked hopefully at Shadow, who sighed. "It's difficult to teleport to an unknown location. We don't even know if Rience has a basement." Sonics face fell.

"However," Shadow continued, "I'm willing to give it a try."

A huge smile spread across Sonic's face. Shadow smirked. "How heartwarming." Charmy said. Everyone glared at him.

Shadow pulled his red Chaos Emerald out from his quills. _Why didn't I use this when we were trapped in that dark pit? _Shadow thought. _Must've slipped my mind. _Shadow grabbed Sonic's arm and lifted the emerald above his head. He focused on the cell they had seen Amy in. "Chaos Control!"

In a bright flash of light the two hedgehogs disappeared.

Team Chaotix stood there for a moment. Espio spoke up eventually, "What do you suggest we do now, Vector?"

As he spoke a group of Rience's sentry bots rounded the corner. They raised their weapons, mini arm cannons, at the animals.

"I say, WE GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!" Vector turned and fled, leaving Espio and Charmy to chase after him, all while trying to dodge the robot's lasers.

**X-X**

Amy sat in her cell, idly twirling her hammer. She didn't know how long she had been in there, nor did she care. All she cared about was whether Sonic was alright. She had watched him and Shadow fall through the trap door, unable to help them. Then Rience had stuck her down in the cell and left her there. She had tried escaping the cell, but the bars were very strong. Even her hammer couldn't bust through.

_I hope Sonic is okay, _she thought.

All of a sudden there was a bright flash of light. Amy gasped as Sonic and Shadow appeared in front of her. "Amy! You're okay!"

"Sonic!" Amy wrapped Sonic in a giant, crushing bear hug. Sonic returned the hug awkwardly, trying to escape her grasp.

Shadow coughed. "If you two are done…"

Amy released Sonic, who was gasping for air. Sonic laughed awkwardly. "Right, let's juice!"

Amy and Shadow both groaned as Shadow lifted his chaos emerald high above his head.

"Chaos Control!"

**X-X**

Rouge sent a mighty kick into the chest of another robot. She dodged another attack; the rat's giant clubbed hand narrowly missing her head. She wasn't sure if she could hold out much longer. She turned coming face to face with another robot. Another mighty kick and the robot was put out of commission. "Rouge! Watch out!"

Rouge heard Knuckles' shout and spun around again. She tried to feint to the right but wasn't fast enough as the attacking robot's clubbed hand made contact with her shoulder. Rouge was sent flying backwards. Before she could hit the ground she felt someone catch her. She looked to see Knuckles. He smirked. Knuckles opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sound of yelling. Both Knuckles and Rouge looked and saw Vector, Espio, and Charmy running like mad out of Rience's HQ. Once out of the building they stopped, panting, only to find themselves surrounded by more robots.

Machine guns fired and all the robots surrounding Team Chaotix were reduced to scrap metal. Omega stood behind the group unleashing his entire arsenal on the rats. The robot seemed to be enjoying this a little too much. Knuckles set Rouge down and they regrouped with Team Chaotix. "What happened in there?" Knuckles asked Vector, "Where are Sonic and Shadow?"

"They're rescuing Amy. Rience had her as a hostage." Vector told them.

Rouge gasped. "Is Amy alright?"

Espio nodded. "On the surveillance tapes she looked fine. Don't worry. Sonic and Shadow should be out soon."

Rouge wasn't sure why she was worrying. Sonic and Amy had been in tighter spots before but Shadow…..she was worried about him. She couldn't explain it, but Shadow had seemed vaguely familiar to her. She knew her robot companion, Omega, felt the same way.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Rouge heard Antoine shouting commands to the rest of the Resistance. She noticed that a trail had been scorched through the robots that had surrounded them, creating the perfect escape path. Omega was still steadily mowing down enemies.

"You heard him! Let's go!"

With that the Resistance took off, heading back to their base of operations. They could only hope that Sonic, Shadow, and Amy would make it out alright.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 7-

The members of the Resistance had made it back to their base of operations and were now recovering. All the members checked for wounds. Luckily, there were no casualties. Some members had sustained small cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. Now the Resistance sat and waited, worried for their missing friends. _Sonic, Amy, and Shadow should be back by now. _Tails thought anxiously as he glanced out the window; still no sign of them. _What if something's happened? _

"They've sure been gone for a while now." Sally broke the silence. "Do you think…?"

"They'll be fine." Knuckles said. His words did nothing to ease the tension and the worry in the room.

"But still. Don't you think they should be back by now?" Sally wasn't convinced.

"They'll be back any second now. Trust me."

No sooner than Knuckles had uttered the last word that a bright flash illuminated the room. From the flash came Shadow, Sonic, and Amy. Knuckles looked smug. "Told ya'."

Tails ran over to the trio. "What took you so long?"

Sonic smiled. "We ran into a little trouble on the way out." He looked over at Shadow, "Seems this guy isn't as good at Chaos Control as we thought!"

Shadow glared at Sonic. "I'd like to see you do better." When it looked like Sonic was about to challenge him to something he added, "Besides, it's harder to do when I have to transport two others while only using one emerald."

Sonic made a tsk sound, "Excuses, excuses." He turned back to Tails. "So lil' buddy, what's the plan now?"

"Now we stay here and recuperate." Tails said. Everyone in the room looked relieved; everyone except for a certain red echidna.

"What? We can't just sit around! We have to attack again while Rience's army is weakened." Knuckles jumped to his feet as he spoke, making wild hand gestures with his hands.

"We are tired as it is. Another attack would only wear us out more. We need to recover more or else we risk overtiring ourselves. If we are tired we won't be able to defend ourselves against Rience's army if they happen to attack." Tails argued.

Knuckles was about to argue back when a cream colored rabbit entered the room. She had cinnamon-brown eyes and wore a vermillion dress. In her arms she carried a small blue chao. "Hello Cream." Sonic said. He turned to Shadow and Brooke. "Shadow, Brooke, this is Cream the Rabbit. Cream, this is Shadow the Hedgehog and Brooke Brockwell. Now that that's out of the way, do you have any news for us?"

Before Cream could answer Brooke spoke up. "What do you mean news? I don't want to sound rude, but how would she know anything of importance. She only looks like she is four years old!"

Cream looked slightly annoyed, but tried to be polite to Brooke. "Actually miss, I'm six." Cream smiled very sweetly. For some reason it almost looked conceited. "I'm also a secret spy for the Resistance."

Shadow looked interested. "Explain, please."

"Rience took over soon after I was born. My mother, Vanilla, was taken aside to be his personal chef. Since she had me, Rience allowed her a room in his HQ. Growing up, I hated Rience. He was very mean. As I got older my mother taught me to bake. I was able to help her in the kitchen. Also, since I live in the HQ, I'm able to get information on Rience that the Resistance could not get before. I joined the Resistance so that that information could be made available to them."

Shadow looked very impressed (well, as impressed as Shadow can look.), while Brooke looked outraged. "How could you make such a young child do something as dangerous as being a spy?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. Cream was obviously biting back a snappy reply. "With all due respect, none of us here are exactly old."

Sonic spoke up. "And we didn't make her do anything. She offered to help. We accepted. It's a good thing we did too. She's very smart on all things Rience. Without her Intel we would have been crushed a long time ago." He gave her an approving nod as she smiled.

"Back on topic, did you bring us any news?" Tails asked. Cream nodded.

"Rience is upgrading his army. They are all being equipped with arm cannons and machine guns good enough to rival Omega's weapons. They are also being built faster and more agile than before. I don't know all the details but I plan on getting a copy of the blue prints for you guys to look at. From the looks of it though, the robots you fought today will be the last of their kind. After that it's going to be the new robots."

Tails thought this over. "Hmmm. Thanks Cream." He looked at Knuckles. "Still think we should attack?"

Knuckles grumbled something incomprehensible.

"All right, so we won't attack. Are we all agreed?" Sonic asked. Everyone agreed; everyone except for one.

Brooke looked over at Shadow, who had fallen very silent. "What do you think, Shadow?" she asked.

Shadow only stood there, deep in thought. He was thinking about what Mephiles had said. _Just as a flower comes from a seed, or a chicken comes from an egg, everything has an origin. You need to find the event originally responsible for this catastrophe. But what does that mean? I need to find the event originally responsible for this catastrophe. _Something clicked in Shadow's mind. _By saving Maria, I weakened the world, making it easily conquerable by Rience. _Shadow's heart sunk. _That means this is all my fault. I have to fix this. _His heart sunk lower as he came to a realization. _That means I can't save Maria._

_ I have to let her die. _

"Shadow? Earth to Shadow. Are you listening? Hello?" Sonic waved his hand in front of Shadow's face. He had been zoned out for quite a while now. _I wonder what he's thinking about._

Back in Shadow's mind, Shadow was trying to think of a way to fix this mess. _I have to go back in time to the ARK incident. But I can't time travel. Rience sent me back before, but he definitely won't do it again. There's only one other guy I know who can time travel._

"Try slapping him maybe." Knuckles suggested as Sonic continued to wave his hand in front of Shadow's face.

"Alright!" Sonic drew his hand back, but before he could let loose a hard smack Shadow came back to reality.

"I have to find Silver!"

Everyone looked at Shadow, confused. Sonic dropped his hand. "We have utensils in the kitchen, and I think they're made of silver." Sonic said, pointing to the door that led to the kitchen.

"No, not silver. Silver!" Shadow turned and raced out of the room, leaving everyone to try and comprehend what Shadow was babbling about. Knuckles scoffed in disbelief.

He's the 'Ultimate Lifeform'? I've eaten grapes with more brains than him!"

Outside the Resistance's base of operations, Shadow was speeding down the streets, the scenery around him a blur. _If Mephiles is in this new future, Silver should be here too. _Shadow thought as he rounded a street corner, nearly running into a lamppost in the process. _But where is he? _

Shadow came to an abrupt stop as something caught his eye. It was small building made of reddish colored brick. The sign above the door read, _The Egg: Central City's Finest Bakery_. The cheesy name wasn't what caught Shadow's attention. It was the bakery's logo that bared a huge resemblance to Eggman's insignia that stopped Shadow in his tracks. _What the..? What's Eggman up to this time?_ The sign on the door said "Open". _Only one way to find out. _

Shadow pushed the door of the bakery, a bell dinged as the door opened. "Welcome to…. Ah Shadow the Hedgehog." Eggman said as he saw Shadow walk in.

"So you do know me." Shadow leaned against the counter of the bakery. The counter had a glass top, displaying various baked goods. Most of the goods were cupcakes.

"The 'Ultimate Lifeform' and the biggest nuisance to Emperor Rience." He spat the word 'emperor'. "Yes, I know you." Eggman turned back to his work. He had been cleaning several dishes. At the moment he had been drying off a large silver bowl. "So, Shadow. What brings you here?"

"I was actually wondering the same about you, Doctor." Shadow said as he took a cupcake from one of the displays on the counter and licked a bit of frosting off the top. "I always thought you were bent on taking over the world. Why are you here?"

Eggman sighed and put down the bowl. "Yes, that. You see, it had always been my dream to take over the world and set up my Eggman Empire, but I soon found that I was unable to compete with Rience and his army." Shadow raised an eyebrow. Eggman continued. "It is a huge shock that I, a pure genius, was unable to compete with a _rat_, but it is true. After I was unable to defeat him, I decided to join him. I offered to lend him my genius in exchange for a spot as emperor, but he rejected. I gave up eventually. I was awfully depressed. When I'm depressed, I like to eat cupcakes. Of course, the machine I designed to make cupcakes for me well…exploded. I was too depressed to rebuild it, so I actually had to make my own cupcakes. That's when I realized how much I loved to bake. I set up my shop here and am now one of the finest bakers in all of Central City! It's a hollow victory compared to taking over the world, but I'll take what I can." Eggman finished. He once again returned to drying off the bowl. "Now answer my question, Shadow. What brings you here?"

Shadow finished eating the cupcake. It was surprisingly good. "I'm looking for someone."

"Who?"

"That's classified."

Eggman frowned. "Of course it is." Through the front window Eggman saw a group of Rience's robots patrolling the streets. He began to feel nervous. "You should leave now. Having the world's biggest renegade in my shop isn't exactly good for business."

Shadow turned and also saw the robots. "Yes. So long, Doctor." Shadow turned and walked towards the door. Before he opened it, he turned back to Eggman and smirked. "By the way, your cupcakes could use a little less sugar. They are way too sweet." With that the hedgehog pushed the door open and walked back out into the streets.

After wandering the streets for what felt like hours, Shadow became frustrated. _This is impossible. I'm never going to find him. _Shadow didn't give up that easily though. _One more street then I'll head back. _

Shadow turned down the last street and almost crashed into a silver-white hedgehog sitting on the edge of the road. "Hey, watch where you're going!" Silver growled as he stood up, ready for a fight. Shadow almost laughed in Silver's face.

"Silver, I need your help. You can time travel, right?" Shadow asked.

"Well, yes but why…" Silver trailed off as a new thought came to mind. "Wait, how did you know my name and that I could time travel? Who are you?"

"Shadow. As for your other questions, it doesn't matter. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Help you with what exactly?" Silver was no longer in his fighting stance. Instead he stood with his arms crossed and his head tilted slightly to the side in curiosity.

Shadow sighed. "It's a long story. Basically, I need you to help me go back in time to stop myself from helping myself save Maria."

"Okay, that made no sense." Silver thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I could help you."

"Good." Shadow turned to leave when he heard Silver start to rant.

"Figures, I can go and help everyone else, but I can't even help myself." He sighed, dejectedly. Shadow turned and looked at Silver. He was looking up at Shadow expectantly.

_I know I'm going to regret this but…._ "What's wrong now, Silver?" Shadow asked feeling annoyed and impatient.

"You see, I'm from the future. My future has been destroyed by this evil being called Iblis. I came back in time looking for the one who released Iblis, the 'Iblis Trigger'. His name is Johnny Sash and he…"

Shadow interrupted. "Johnny Sash. That name sounds familiar."

Silver was starting to look annoyed now. "He's a famous musician or something. Anyway, he's going to break up with his girlfriend, Princess Elise. If he breaks up with her, she'll cry, and Iblis will be released. I followed the princess here from Soleanna, but now I can't find her. The last I saw she was…"

Shadow interrupted again. "That wasn't the princess you were following. It was someone named Mephiles. He is able to take the form of anyone by taking their shadow."

"What? You mean Princess Elise is still in Soleanna? If she's there with Johnny….." Silver sat down on the edge of the street again. "My world is doomed."

"Maybe not." Shadow made a sudden realization. "If you help me change the past, it will also eventually lead to saving your future."

Silver jumped up, excited. "Really?!"

"If I am correct, yes. There will be no Iblis, your future will be fine." Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald. "Now, are you going to help me?"

"You bet!" Silver said as he pulled out a blue chaos emerald. "Let's.."

"Wait, where did you get that?" Shadow interrupted. Silver sighed angrily.

"Could you please stop interrupting me? Anyway, I bought this off of a website called eBay. Some idiot sold it, not realizing how powerful it is."

_Sounds like Knuckles to me._ Shadow thought as he raised his emerald. "Ready?"

Silver nodded completely serious, and raised his emerald. "Chaos…"

"Control!"

A swirling blue portal opened up in front of the two hedgehogs. "Let's go." Silver said as he stepped into the portal. Shadow looked around the city for the last time. _I hope this works. _He thought as he stepped through the portal.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 8-

"Whoa. What a view." Silver breathed as he stared out the window of Space Colony ARK. Shadow had to agree with him. In all of his time up on ARK, Shadow had never gotten tired of looking at the earth. A wave of nostalgia swept over him, and he shook his head to clear it away. He had to focus on why he was here.

"C'mon. We have to find me before I save myself and Maria." Shadow said as he set off down the hallway in search for his other self. Silver just sighed.

"I still have yet to understand you." Silver said as he shook his head and took off after Shadow.

They hadn't been walking for long when Shadow saw a familiar shape up ahead. He watched as a black and red hedgehog said something to another red and black hedgehog, before taking off down the hall with a blonde haired girl in tow. Silver saw this and asked in confusion, "Wouldn't that cause some sort of paradox?" Shadow ignored him and continued watching the scene that played out before him.

The hedgehog stood in the hall and waited. "There I am!" said Shadow. With a burst of speed, Shadow took off again and, before the other hedgehog could react, tackled him to the ground.

Shadow and the other hedgehog crashed into the floor, the impact causing the other hedgehog to drop the red emerald he had been holding. Silver dove and caught the emerald before it could hit the ground. "That was a close one." Silver said as he stood up and dusted himself off. He then turned his attention to the two identical hedgehogs rolling around on the floor, both trying to get the upper hand.

"Get off of me! Let me go!" The other hedgehog growled as he attempted to roll out of Shadow's grasp. Shadow didn't budge.

"This is for your own good. Trust me." Shadow retorted back. He looked at Silver. "Silver, give me the Chaos Emerald."

"No, Silver. Give the emerald to me!" The other Shadow yelled, still trying to throw Shadow off of him. Silver wasn't sure who was the Shadow he had time traveled here with. He didn't want to give the other Shadow the emerald back though, and he couldn't distinguish one Shadow from the other. He finally came to a decision.

"I think I'm going to just keep the emerald for now." Silver said. "You two can fight without it."

"Dang it Silver, just give me the..." Shadow was cut off by the sound of footsteps. A large group of GUN soldiers rounded the corner and stopped, confused, as they saw the quarreling hedgehogs.

"The two you're looking for, they went that way." Silver pointed down the hallway in the direction he had seen the hedgehog and the girl escape to. He wasn't sure how, but for some reason he knew that was who the soldiers were looking for.

"You." One of the soldiers looked at the soldier beside him. "Find the Project and the girl. We'll deal with these three."

"Yes sir." said the soldier as he took off down the hallway. The other soldiers raised their weapons at the three hedgehogs.

"Uh oh." Silver got into a fighting stance. "Shadow, looks like we've got company."

Shadow looked up and saw the soldiers. "Hold them off. This will be over soon."

When the other Shadow saw Shadow look up, he sent a mighty kick into Shadow's gut, sending him flying into the wall. The other Shadow stood up and began to walk towards Shadow, who was picking himself off of the ground. He was able to recover fast, but not fast enough.

The other Shadow picked Shadow up by the neck and shoved him into the wall once again. He laughed menacingly. "You have no idea who you're messing with, faker."

_Faker? Oh it is on._ "I know exactly who I am dealing with. You're just a pathetic, self-centered _faker_."

The other Shadow growled and slammed Shadow into the wall once again, before dropping him. As soon as Shadow made contact with the ground the other Shadow gave him a mighty kick to the stomach, punting him into the wall on the other side of the hall. As Shadow hit the wall a sickening crack could be heard. "I'd watch my words if I was you."

"That's the point! You are me." Shadow once again made a quick recovery. _It's just a few broken bones. I'll be fine._ "Only, I have changed. I no longer care only about myself, but I care about others too. You are only being selfish in trying to save Maria. You only focused on benefiting yourself, and not on how everyone else would be affected." Shadow stood up. It was painful, but he managed to walk over to his other self. He stood in front of the other Shadow, blocking his path.

The other Shadow's eyes narrowed. "I don't care about anyone else, especially anyone who lives on that planet. Now, I'd suggest you get out of my way before I seriously hurt you."

"I've seen what happens when Maria is saved. The world is thrown into turmoil. And you want to know the worst part? Maria dies anyway! She dies, along with thousands of others! Is that what you want?"

"You're lying." The other Shadow growled. "Now get out of my way."

Shadow didn't move. "This is your last chance." The other Shadow gritted his teeth, "Get. Out Of. My. Way."

Shadow only smirked. "Never."

The other Shadow turned and walked away from Shadow. "You have made a huge mistake."

"No. I'm preventing one."

The other Shadow spun around and, with a growl, lunged at Shadow.

Meanwhile, Silver was doing all he could to hold off the GUN soldiers. They began firing their guns at him, but Silver dodged the bullets with ease. After a while he began to feel fatigued. _I can't keep this up forever. Shadow had better hurry. _He dodged another attack. _I don't want to hurt any of these people, but if I have no other choice…._Then he had an idea.

Silver raised his hands in front of him, the symbols on his palms glowing. From his hands came a blast of psychokinetic energy. But instead of the wave of energy crashing into the soldiers, the energy formed a barrier, trapping the soldiers on the other side. The soldiers attacked Silver's 'psychic shield', but were unable to break through. _This will hold for now, but not forever. _He already felt it giving way.

Shadow quickly sidestepped the other Shadow, grabbing him by the spikes on his back as he passed. Gripping the spikes tight, Shadow spun around in a circle, gaining momentum. After the third spin he released the other Shadow's quills, sending him flying across the hall. Shadow felt slightly bad about what he was about to do. He didn't want to hurt himself. _Oh well. I'll heal eventually. _He then proceeded to Chaos Control over to the spot he figured the other Shadow would land, and slammed the faker into the floor, creating a small crater in the ground. The other Shadow coughed up a little bit of blood as Shadow took him roughly by the throat. "Now, listen to me and listen well. Saving Maria does not benefit anyone. You have to let her go. It's for the best."

"That's easy for you to say." The other Shadow spat back. "You don't know how it felt to lose her. You don't know the pain I went through!"

_Gosh, how stupid can I possibly be? "_I _do_ know how you feel. I am you!" He tightened his grip on the other Shadow's throat. "It hurt terribly when Maria died; especially knowing I could have saved her. I know how you feel. But I also know that having to watch her suffer, slowly dying of the disease that damned her in the first place, and knowing that I was completely powerless to do anything about it; that hurts way more than you can ever imagine. Do you want to know what happens next? The world is in ruins and, once again, you're powerless to save anyone. Losing her the first time hurt, but good things came from that hurt. Losing her a second time, nothing good came from that."

Shadow could have said more, there was so much more that he wanted to say, but he was cut off by the sound of a single gunshot echoing throughout the hallway. The other Shadow's eyes, which had once shone with rage and defiance, dulled as realization set in. Both Shadows turned their heads to the hallway's windows. Through the window they saw one escape pod fall from the ARK towards the earth. A moment later, another pod fell. The hedgehogs knew that, this time, Maria would not be in that pod. Shadow released his grip on the other Shadow who, in turn, shoved Shadow off of him. The two hedgehogs stood up. Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald and handed it to the other Shadow. _I'll get it back eventually. _The other Shadow looked at Shadow with sorrow filled eyes.

"That alternate future had better been awful. And all the lives saved; I hope it was worth her sacrifice. It had better been worth it." With that the other Shadow turned a walked away.

Shadow watched him walk for a little while before turning his attention to Silver and the GUN soldiers. He made his way over and stood beside Silver who was struggling to keep the shield up. "On my command, let the shield down." Shadow took the emerald Silver had been guarding and began charging up Chaos Energy.

"Are you sure?" Silver didn't know what Shadow was planning.

"Yes. You may want to back up a bit." Shadow closed his eyes, feeling energy building inside of him. "Now."

Silver dropped his hands, causing the shield to disappear. "Chaos Blast!" A huge blast of red engulfed the startled soldiers. When the attack ceased, no soldier was left standing.

Silver looked scared also. "Are they….?"

"They are only unconscious. They'll be fine…..in an hour or so."

"If you say so." Silver pulled out his own Chaos Emerald. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. The sooner we leave the better." Shadow held his emerald in the air. Silver did the same.

"Chaos Control!"

**X-X**

Shadow and Silver stepped out of the portal into a luscious green field only a few miles out of Central City. Shadow took in his surroundings. The sky was a bright blue, no longer the dull gray color it had been his other life. The plants were bright green and full, while the leaves on trees were the colors of fall. A few wisps of clouds lazily drifted in front of the sun, enveloping those below in shadow, but the shadow was nothing compared to the darkness that constantly consumed the city in the other lifetime. Shadow sighed with relief.

"Everything is back to normal." Shadow looked over at Silver, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.

"It's odd, but somehow I am able to remember all that has happened in this life, as well as the other life." Silver looked at Shadow, a serious expression on his face. "This has never happened before. It seems…wrong, somehow. We must've caused a paradox or something."

"If I've learned anything in this experience, it's to never question time travel." Shadow turned away from Silver. "We did it. Everything is back to normal at last. That is all that matters." With that, Shadow walked away.

"Hey Shadow, where are you going?" Silver began to follow his friend, but when Shadow did not respond, he stopped. _Now what do I do? I could go back to my own time, or maybe…. _Silver smiled, and then began running.

**X-X**

"So let me get this straight, Shadow traveled back in time and saved Maria, but it completely screwed over the world. Then, you both went back in time to stop him from saving her, making the world go back to normal?" Sonic was having a hard time taking it all in. Silver nodded.

After Shadow had left, Silver decided to pay his other friends a visit. Luckily he found them all in Tails' workshop, which saved him the time he would have spent trying finding them all. After a lot of greeting and catching up, Silver had told them the story of what he and Shadow had done. For the past five minutes though, Sonic had been trying to wrap his head around it. _Odd_, Silver thought with a small smile, _it's usually Tails who over-analyzes things, not Sonic. _

"That's just….that's just wow. I can't believe Shadow would do that. Must've been tough…" Sonic was saying half to himself. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. "Speaking of Shadow, where is he now?"

**X-X**

Shadow stopped walking. He found himself standing on a grassy hill, the same hill he first encountered Black Doom on. Shadow pushed away the thoughts and sat down. This hill happened to be one of his favorite places to go. It was quiet, peaceful, and had a great view of the city. He leaned against the trunk of a tree and closed his eyes, enjoying the silence. A slight breeze picked up, stirring the leaves of the trees and ruffling Shadow's quills.

Shadow sat there for a long time, lost in thoughts of all that had happened in only a matter of days. Then his other self's words invaded his mind. _It had better been worth it. _

Shadow opened his eyes and looked down on the city. He could see families in the park laughing and smiling, people heading home after a long day of work, and a young couple holding hands and smiling at each other like they were the only ones in the world.

Nowhere did he see a person lurking in the shadows, trying to stay out of sight of robots patrolling the streets. Nowhere were there people hiding in their homes, not doing anything for fear of doing it wrong and being punished. No, the people here were happy. Shadow smiled, not a smirk, but a genuine smile. He closed his eyes again and said to himself…..

"Yes. It was definitely worth it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 9-

**1906 hours **

_Pilot: GUN HQ, this is Sigma Alpha-2. Is there any known traffic below five thousand? _

_GUN HQ: No known traffic. _

_Pilot: I am... seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand. _

_GUN HQ: What type of aircraft is it? _

_Pilot: No, not an aircraft. It's like a swirling thing….Something just came out of it…_

**1907 hours **

_Pilot: GUN HQ, this is Sigma Alpha-2. An aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above... _

_GUN HQ: Roger...And it... it is a large aircraft? Confirm. _

_Pilot: ... er unknown due to the speed it's travelling. Is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity? _

_GUN HQ: No known aircraft in the vicinity. _

**1908 hours **

_Pilot: HQ, it's approaching now from due east towards me... (open microphone for two seconds) ...it seems to me that he's playing some sort of game... he's flying over me two... three times at speeds I could not identify... _

**1909 hours **

_GUN HQ: ... roger... what is your actual level? _

_Pilot: My level is four and a half thousand four five zero zero... _

_GUN HQ: ... and confirm you cannot identify the aircraft... _

_Pilot: ... affirmative. _

_GUN HQ: roger... stand by... _

_Pilot: ... it's not an aircraft it is... (open microphone for two seconds) _

_GUN HQ: ... can you describe the... er... aircraft? _

_Pilot: ... as it's flying past it's a long shape... (open microphone for three seconds)...it looks like...no that couldn't be…it has such speed... (open microphone for three seconds)... before me right now... _

**1910 hours **

_GUN HQ: ...roger... and how large would the... er... object be? _

_Pilot: ... it seems like it's stationary... what I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me... also, it's got a green light and sort of metallic like... it's all shiny on the outside...(open microphone for five seconds)... it's just vanished... _

**1911 hours **

_Pilot: HQ, would you know what kind of aircraft I've got? Is it military aircraft? _

_GUN HQ: ...confirm the... er... aircraft just vanished... _

_Pilot: ... say again? _

_Melbourne: ... is the aircraft still with you? _

_Pilot: ... approaching from the south-west... the engine is rough idling... I've got it set at twenty three twenty four and the thing is... _

**1912 hours **

_GUN HQ: ... roger... what are your intentions...? _

_Pilot: ... my intentions are... ah... to go to Angel Island, then on to Prison Island... ah... that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again... (Two seconds open microphone)... it is hovering and it's not an aircraft... (17 seconds open microphone)..._

Shadow read through the Transcript again. An unidentified object came out of nowhere and could possibly have attacked a GUN pilot. It was very strange. He didn't like it one bit.

Shadow had only returned to present time a few days ago and was already getting ready to go on a mission for GUN. He had spent the entire day before searching for Rience, but could not find the conniving rat anywhere. Now he sat in a conference room in GUN's Headquarters. His partner, Rouge the Bat, sat beside him.

The door to the conference room opened and the GUN Commander, Abraham Towers, walked into the room. He cut right to the chase.

"HQ was contacted by the pilot of Sigma Alpha-2. We were told about an object flying around and possibly attacking him. As you can see from the Transcript, we lost contact with Sigma Alpha-2 just as this flying object seemed to attack. The plane was supposed to have reached Prison Island at 1930 hours. It never arrived. We sent search teams to the Angel Island area to see if Sigma Alpha-2 could be recovered, but the teams were unable to find any sign of the aircraft. We need you two to go and investigate the area, see if you can figure out what happened to it."

Shadow nodded, while Rouge looked confused.

"This doesn't sound like a mission that requires our specific skills, so why is it we are being sent on it?" She asked the Commander.

Towers sighed. "We fear that the Black Arms may have returned, or another alien race similar to them."

Shadow shook his head. "That seems highly unlikely."

"Nonetheless, we'd rather be safe than sorry." He handed Shadow the case file. "Good luck you two."

Shadow and Rouge were transported via helicopter to Angel Island. The helicopter touched down, stirring up leaves and dust as it landed. Shadow and Rouge hopped out only to come face to face with an angry echidna.

"What's going on? Why are you two here? You better not be here to steal the Master Emerald!" Knuckles literally had steam pouring from his ears. Rouge laughed.

"Relax Knuxie. I'm not going to steal the Master Emerald today." Knuckles relaxed. "I'm going to steal it tomorrow."

"Wha-?" Knuckles nearly exploded.

"No she isn't. We're here to investigate a strange object seen hovering around this area last night." Shadow, who had been going through the case files, looked up at Knuckles. "Did you notice anything strange flying over the island in the past twelve hours?"

Knuckles scratched his head. "No, I don't recall anything."

"Hmm…" Shadow thought long and hard but was unable to piece anything together. No else had seen this object, only the pilot. Shadow was sure it couldn't be the Black Arms, or any alien race for that matter. Had the pilot been seeing things? Maybe, but that wouldn't explain why he had disappeared. Rouge's worried voice pulled Shadow from his thoughts.

"Uh…Shadow? You might want to take a look at this." Rouge pointed towards the sky.

Shadow turned and looked to where the bat was pointing His breath caught in his throat.

Across the sky there was a short black streak. It almost looked as if the sky was torn. Through this tear, Shadow saw a swirling purple mist that sort of looked like a portal; a very familiar portal.

"Rience." Shadow's voice was barely a whisper.

"What do you…?" Knuckles trailed off as he noticed something come out of the tear.

Hundreds, no _thousands _of rat shaped robots flew out of the tear. They filled the skies, blocking out the sun and casting shadows over Angel Island. Then a large aircraft shaped like a crouching rat drifted through the tear. Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles' eyes widened.

"Oh crap."

That was an understatement.

Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles watched as a swarm of rat shaped robots **(I'm going to call them ratbots) **descended onto the island. They landed on the soft grass and began to troop towards the middle of the island, not once glancing at the three animals.

"C'mon. We have to stop them." Shadow began to pursue the ratbots. Rouge followed suit. Knuckles, however, stayed where he was. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Knuckles watched as the robots continued to progress towards the heart of the island. Then a horrifying thought struck him. As fast as he could, Knuckles began to chase after the ratbots. He shook his fist in the air and yelled, "Hey! You rats had better stay away from the Master Emerald!"

Meanwhile, Shadow and Rouge had caught up to the ratbots. Rouge let out a gasp. "They're stealing the Master Emerald!"

The bat and hedgehog watched, horrified, as nearly one hundred ratbots swarmed the emerald shrine. The rats had taken hold of the Master Emerald and began carrying it away from the shrine. The island began to rumble. Shadow growled. "Without that emerald, this island's going to fall!"

"Oh no you don't!"

A red echidna sped past Shadow and Rouge, leaving them dumbfounded as he smashed his fists through countless ratbots. The rats dropped the Master Emerald and turned towards Knuckles. He snarled before launching himself at the robots.

Shadow and Rouge watched as Knuckles tore through the ratbots. He was faring well, until a stray robot snuck up behind him and lunged. Knuckles turned just in time to see a single Chaos Spear impale the robot's metallic chest. It fell to the ground in a shower of sparks. Knuckles looked around to see Shadow and Rouge had joined the fight.

Rouge screw kicked a large number of enemies, while Shadow jumped high into the air and released a maelstrom of Chaos Spears on the robots, then rolled into a ball and launched a homing attack on his next target. Just as soon as the battle had started, it ended. The robots that had managed to stay intact took to the air, heading towards the mainland.

Knuckles breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that took care of that."

Shadow shook his head. "It's not over yet."

"What do you mean?"

Rouge pointed towards the fleeing ratbots. "They're heading straight for the city!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 10-

It was a pleasant afternoon. Many people were out enjoying the fine weather. Two of those people, or should I say animals, where Cream the Rabbit and Amy Rose.

Amy and Cream entered a large park in the heart of Central City. After a few minutes of searching, the two girls found a patch of grass in the shade of a giant oak tree. They spread out a checkered blanket and opened the picnic basket Cream had brought along. Amy and Cream settled down on the blanket and began setting out the various items needed for a picnic. They had just gotten everything laid out when a large cloud blocked out the sun, casting the city in shadows. Amy Rose looked up at the sky. Her eyes widened once she realized that it wasn't a cloud blocking out the sun.

"What's wrong Amy?" Cream asked the startled hedgehog.

"We have to find Sonic!"

Cream looked at Amy with a puzzled expression. "Why?"

Amy stood up and began packing up the picnic supplies. "There are a lot of robots approaching! I think Eggman is going to attack!"

Once the basket was packed, the two girls sped off in search for the blue hedgehog. They found him lazily sprawled out on a couch in Tails' workshop. On the other side of the room, Tails was standing with Silver, explaining his new invention. By the look on Silver's face, the girls could tell he had no idea what Tails was talking about.

"Sonic! Silver! Tails! Hurry! Eggman's about to attack!" Amy shouted.

The three boys rushed outside just as the first wave of robots descended on the city. Sonic and Silver immediately launched into battle, smashing through robot after robot. Tails studied the robots. They didn't look like the traditional robots Eggman always used. Instead, these robots were shaped like rats. This was the work of someone else. Tails voiced his discovery to the others.

"These aren't Eggman's robots!"

Sonic spin-dashed another robot. "That's what I was thinking." He dodged another robot's attack. "These robots are way harder to take down than ol' Egghead's 'bots!"

Silver grunted his agreement as he used his telekinesis to lift up various objects and threw them at the rats. As soon as Sonic, Silver, and Tails had defeated the first wave of ratbots, another wave settled over the city. The tide of battle quickly turned as the ratbots managed to overpower them, forcing our heroes to retreat back into Tails' workshop. Once inside, they regrouped with a panting Amy and Cream.

"Where were you guys?" Tails asked the two girls.

Once Amy had caught her breath she replied, "We realized that we had forgotten a fork from our picnic basket at the park, so we had to go get it."

Silver looked at them in disbelief. "You went back to the park during what is turning into a robot apocalypse, in order to get a fork?"

Cream's stuck out her bottom lip, on the verge of tears. "It was my favorite fork."

He smiled, trying desperately to keep the young rabbit from crying. "Oh. It was your _favorite_ fork. That explains it! No wonder you had to go back! I would've done the same thing." Silver said, mentally slapping himself due to the obvious sarcasm in his voice.

Sonic and Tails glared at Silver. Cream, however, didn't notice the glares or the sarcasm. She smiled sweetly at Silver. "Thank you for understanding."

With that, the young rabbit happily skipped away towards the kitchen, (Tails' workshop was connected to his home.) singing a song about forks. Silver smirked gloatingly at Sonic who only shook his head.

Off in the distance there was a huge flash of light, followed by the rumble of thunder. It began to rain. The power went out. Silence settled over the room, until Tails spoke up.

"So, what do we do now?" Tails asked the three hedgehogs.

The room was plunged into silence once again as they all began to think of a plan. The silence was broken by a rapid pounding at the door. Cautiously, the four animals walked towards the door. Sonic reached for the doorknob. Tails, Silver, and Amy all prepared themselves for the worst. Each animal had equipped themselves with whatever they happened to find in the room. Tails was holding a large wrench, Amy was holding her Piko Hammer, and Silver had an oversized bowling ball hoisted above his head, ready to be thrown. At that moment Cream had returned to the room, holding a fork. She quickly raised the fork and moved into a ready position next to Amy. Tails nodded to Sonic, who in turn, opened the door.

A flash of lightning illuminated the grotesque shape on the doorstep. The animals let out a terrified shriek as they all launched attacks at the monster. Tails tossed his wrench, Amy began to wildly swing her hammer, Silver threw his bowling ball, and Cream, who had realized she had been holding her favorite fork, grabbed a frying pan and whapped the monster on its three ugly heads. Sonic was nowhere to be found.

The power flickered back on, revealing the "monster" to be none other than a very battered Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge. "What the…?" Shadow growled as he stood up, grabbing the bowling ball that had toppled him over, "Why do you have a bowling ball this big?"

Silver shrugged. Sonic rejoined the group, back from wherever he had been. Amy looked at him. "Where were you?"

Sonic smiled sheepishly. "Not hiding in a closet crying for my mom, if that's what you were thinking."

Everyone in the room face palmed.

Tails shook his head. He then turned his attention to the three new arrivals. "What's wrong?"

"Rience's robots were attacking Angel Island. They tried to steal the Master Emerald." Shadow informed them.

Silver's eyes narrowed. Sonic gasped. "Rience? You mean the guy that tricked you-"

"Yes that guy." Shadow cut him off with a glare.

"We have to stop him!" Tails stated, as if it wasn't obvious.

"But how? We don't even know where he is!" Knuckles looked at the young kitsune, who shrugged.

Outside there was a loud sound of thrumming propellers. Sonic and co. rushed out of Tails' workshop and looked up at the sky. Overhead flew a large aircraft shaped like a crouching rat. Shadow gritted his teeth. "I think I know where to start looking."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Chapter 11-

The heroes watched as the large aircraft passed overhead.

"How do you suppose we get up there?" Tails asked no one in particular.

"We'll have to figure something out fast. Look!" Amy pointed to the horizon.

A large cloud had formed, only, it wasn't a cloud. As the cloud got closer they saw that it was a giant swarm of ratbots. The heroes could only watch as more and more ratbots began to descend on the city. People ran in a panic, screaming in terror. "We have to do something!" Cream squeaked.

Shadow nodded. "Tails see what the scanners can tell us about these robots."

"Alright." The young fox retreated into his workshop. Shadow continued to give out orders.

"Sonic, I want you to run ahead and give us an estimated amount of robots in the city."

Sonic nodded. "Be back in a flash!" With that he sped off.

"Everyone else, let's kick some ratbot butt!"

Knuckles spoke up. "How come you get to boss us around?" he asked Shadow.

"You have any better ideas?"

"Well… no, but..."

"Then it's settled." Shadow motioned to the remaining heroes. "Let's go."

They were about to charge when Sonic walked up. "What am I supposed to do?"

"I already told you what to do." Shadow said, annoyed.

"No you didn't. We just got here."

"What?" Shadow was very confused. "Who's 'we'?"

"Well me, and them." Sonic pointed towards a group of new arrivals. Shadow's eyes widened in surprise.

Standing in this group was Brooke Brockwell, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Rouge, Cream, Omega, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Sally, Antoine, Bunnie, and NICOLE in her holographic form. A small smirk appeared on Shadow's face. "Everyone, meet the Resistance."

"What?" Knuckles scratched his head. "Aren't these the guys from the other future? How is this possible?"

Silver stepped forward. "How did you get here?" he asked the Resistance.

"Through the tear in the sky, just like the robots." Brooke replied.

"Right. Here's the plan. We all attack the robots and make sure none of the civilians get hurt." Shadow said.

"Wow. How long did it take you to come up with a plan as genius as that?" Knuckles asked sarcastically. Shadow shot him a glare.

Before the two could start a fight Brooke spoke. "Let's just get on with the plan."

Everyone nodded. Tails came running out of his workshop. "Here! So we can keep in touch!" He handed Shadow, Alternate Sonic, Brooke, and Knuckles wrist communicators.

They put them on, and then the group charged forwards. While heading to the center of the city they met up with Sonic. "Well, how many?" Shadow asked.

"Thousands! Maybe even millions!" the blue hedgehog replied. He then noticed the newcomers. "Who are they?"

"The Resistance. Enough talk now. We're close."

As soon as he spoke those last words a group of ratbots caught sight of them. They attacked. The battle had begun.

Shadow began to unleash hordes of Chaos Spears at the rats. Brooke slashed through the robots using her fighting stave. The Amy's were taking down many robots using their hammers. Sonic spin-dashed some enemies, while the Alternate Sonic did the same. Vector blew fire at the robots and Espio threw shurikens at them. Charmy tried stinging the rats but couldn't get his stinger to penetrate their steel exterior.

The two Knuckles were downing robot after robot with powerful punches. Rouge, Alternate Rouge, and Alternate Omega were faring well against a group of ten or so ratbots. The Rouge's tornado kicks took out many robots while Omega pumped the rest full of lead using his machine guns.

Antoine fought his way through hordes of robots using his sword. Sally and Bunnie matched each other punch for punch and kick for kick as they made quick work of another group of 'bots.

They were all fighting bravely, but there were just too many rats. Their efforts were futile.

_I need to find Rience and take him down. _Shadow thought as he fought. _I have to get onto that aircraft, but how? _Then he had an idea.

"Tails, what's the location of the large aircraft now?" Shadow asked into his wrist communicator.

"It's heading west, approximately a half mile from your position. It seems to be circling around the city." came the reply. "Why do you ask?"

Shadow took another robot down with a couple of Chaos Spears. "I'm going to use Chaos Control to get onto it and take down Rience."

"I'm coming too." Sonic had come to a stop beside Shadow.

"Me too!" Alternate Sonic had a determined expression on his face. Shadow sighed.

"Fine, but only because I don't have time to argue." Shadow took out his Chaos Emerald. Sonic did the same. "Let's go."

Shadow grabbed Alternate Sonic's wrist. Shadow and Sonic raised their emeralds above their heads. "Chaos Control!"

In a flash they were gone.

XxXxX

Shadow found himself in a long corridor. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same metallic substance as the ratbots.

"Let's go." Shadow began to lead the two Sonics down the hallway.

They had been walking for what felt like an hour but only managed to get lost. On the bright side, they hadn't come across and ratbots.

"Let's turn this way." Alternate Sonic said, pointing to the left.

"Might as well. It's not like we can get any more lost than we already are." Shadow let Alternate Sonic take the lead as they made their way down the hallway.

Up ahead there was the sound of footsteps. The three hedgehogs stopped as a large group of ratbots approached. The hedgehogs all took up fighting stances.

One of the rats lunged. The two Sonics launched into a spin-dash and took it out easily. They then began to attack the rest of the robots.

Shadow released a multitude of Chaos Spears, taking out five of the robots. It seemed to be going good for the hedgehogs, until the reinforcements arrived. The tide of battle quickly turned as the ratbots began to heavily outnumber Shadow and the Sonic's.

"There's too many. We'll have to flee!" Shadow commanded.

"I'm right behind you!" Sonic took off down the hallway, Shadow on his heels. Alternate Sonic brought up the rear.

"Ow!" Alternate Sonic crashed into the ground. "I twisted my ankle!"

"Hurry! Get up, we have to move!" Sonic went back to help up his Alternate self.

"No, go on without me! I'll only slow you down!"

"Never! I will not leave you behind, ever!" Sonic reached out and grabbed Alternate's hand.

"You must! People's lives are at stake!" Tears formed in Alternate Sonic's eyes. "Do it, for me! Leave now!"

"Cut the drama and let's go Sonic!" Shadow yelled.

"I'll never forget you!" Sonic said as he released his Alternate self's hand.

"And I, you." Alternate Sonic gave Sonic a thumbs up. "Go kick Rience's butt for me!"

"I will." Sonic ran to catch up with Shadow.

"That guy is my hero." Sonic said to Shadow as he reached his side. Shadow face palmed.

"Let's just get going."

Once they had put a good distance between them and the ratbots, Sonic and Shadow discussed what to do next.

"What did you do in the other future?" Sonic asked.

Shadow thought for a moment. _"Rience had kidnapped Amy. We went to attack but while we were distracted, Rience opened up a trap door and we fell through."

"You fell through a trap door?" Sonic laughed. "Could it get any less unoriginal?"

Shadow shrugged. "What can I say? The author's an idiot."

You'll pay for that remark Shadow.

"Speaking of idiots," Sonic began, "where are we anyway?"

The two hedgehogs found themselves at a dead end.

Bazinga.

"Well that's just great!" Sonic shouted. "After wandering aimlessly for hours, of course we had to reach a dead end." He raised his hands to the sky. "Why? Why must You do this to me?"

"I thought I told you to cut the drama, Sonic." Shadow said, annoyed.

While Sonic continued to rant about who knows what, Shadow noticed something odd about the wall. He placed two hands on the wall and pushed. Sonic watched, wide eyed, as nothing happened.

"You're really not helping the whole 'idiot' situation right now." Sonic said with a laugh.

Shadow 'hmphed', before drawing his foot back and sending a mighty kick into the wall. Surprisingly, a small door opened up. The door was on the floor, which made the feat even more impressive.

"How'd you do that?" Sonic asked Shadow.

Shadow shrugged as he bent down and examined the door. "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform." He said simply.

Sonic shook his head. "I should've expected an answer like that."

Shadow began to slowly lower himself through the door. Sonic followed suit. They found themselves in a small passageway that reminded Shadow of an air vent. Shadow and Sonic began to crawl along the passageway until they came to another dead end.

"Great. Just great!" Sonic was being awfully grumpy that day. Shadow sighed.

"Did someone forget to take their afternoon nap today?"

"…Maybe."

Shadow scanned the small area, searching for another door. Finally he found one on the ceiling of the passageway. Shadow pushed up on the door. He sighed, relieved the door had opened easily. Shadow and Sonic crawled out of the passage to find themselves in a bathroom.

Sonic took in his surroundings with interest. "Wow, gold seated toilet, diamond studded tooth brush? The guys living in the lap of luxury, that's for sure."

"Let's just find the rat and get out."

Due to the many towels and bath robes with a hand written 'R' embroidered on them, Shadow could only assume they were in Rience's private bathroom.

Shadow and Sonic exited the bathroom and entered a large office, much like the one that had been in Rience's HQ. Standing in front of a large window on the opposite side of the room was Rience.

Rience turned towards the hedgehogs, a faint look of surprise on his face. It disappeared immediately. "You come, as expected you."

"It's over Rience. Surrender now." Shadow said as he and Sonic approached the rat.

Rience laughed. "Am hurt. Like you not know I at all." Rience picked up a small remote from a large oak desk. "I have still what call 'ace up sleeve'."

With that last statement Rience pressed the button on the remote. A large glass cylinder rose from the floor. Inside this cylinder sat a chameleon, a small bee, and a large crocodile.

"Wow, you sure have issues. Always taking hostages?" Sonic commented.

"Let me out! You can't keep me in here! I have the right to life, liberty, and broccoli!" Charmy Bee yelled as he pounded on the glass. Espio sighed, annoyed.

"It's life, liberty, and _property._" The chameleon corrected.

Shadow and Sonic looked at the cylinder with little interest. Turning their attention back to Rience, the two began to slowly close the distance between them and the rat. Rience began to panic. "No! You're supposed to try and save them!"

Shadow shrugged. "They're expendable."

"What! No we're not!" Vector shouted. Steam literally poured from his ears.

The battle with Rience ended as soon as it began. All it took was a couple of spin-dashes to knock the rat completely unconscious. Sonic brushed the dust from his gloves and gave a small chuckle. "That was too easy! We didn't even have to go super! And here I thought he was going to be like Master Splinter from _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles._"

Sonic released the Chaotix while Shadow tied the unconscious rat to a chair. "Right. All that's left to do now is defeat the ratbots."

Sonic looked out the window. "That'll prove difficult. There are already millions of robots out there, and more coming through that tear in the sky."

Shadow nodded. "Let's fly this thing over and investigate the tear. Maybe we can find a way to close it."

Shadow looked at the aircraft's controls. Sonic joined him. "I really wish Tails were here. Or Eggman even." The blue hedgehog said as he scanned the many buttons and switches.

Shadow grabbed the joystick and began to gently steer the aircraft towards the tear. Sonic whistled. "Impressive."

In no time at all Shadow managed to steer the rat shaped aircraft close to the tear. Sonic looked through the tear. "There's some sort of machine through there." he said. "It's like the machine is keeping the tear open and is managing to fuse our future with the other future."

Shadow spoke into his communicator watch. "Tails, do you copy that?"

"Roger. It seems that, if we destroy this machine, the tear will close and the other future will no longer be." Tails said, his voice crackling with static.

"Shadow, fly that thing over to the city and hover low. I'm coming up." Brooke's voice came over the communicator watch.

"Alright. We're on our way."

Shadow flew the aircraft low over the city. Sonic lowered a rope ladder down to Brooke, who grabbed it and climbed into the aircraft.

"So what's the plan?" Shadow asked as Brooke and Sonic entered the office.

"I want you to fly in close to the tear. I'm going through the tear to destroy the machine." Brooke told him.

Shadow nodded and began to steer the aircraft towards the tear. Then a thought struck him. "Brooke, if you manage to destroy the machine, the tear will close and you'll be trapped."

"I know." She said calmly.

"You'll be gone forever. You'll disappear from existence!"

By this time the aircraft had arrived at its destination. Shadow turned to look at Brooke. She smiled. "If it means saving the people of this future, then I'll be happy to do it."

Brooke began to exit the room, but she stopped as she heard Shadow's voice behind her. "It has been an honor to fight alongside someone as courageous as you."

Brooke's smile grew. "Thank you. Goodbye Shadow the Hedgehog."

With that, she left the room. Shadow and Sonic watched through the window as she lowered the rope ladder and climbed down a few rungs. She bunched her muscles, and then jumped through the tear. A few minutes later the tear began to close. Soon it vanished from sight. Shadow bowed his head.

Sonic gasped. "Shadow, Look! The ratbots…they're disappearing!"

Shadow looked up and saw that Sonic was right. The ratbots were fading away, just as the tear had done. Tails' excited voice came over Shadows wrist communicator. "Guys, hurry and land that thing! You've got to see what's happening down here!"

"We're on our way."

Shadow and Sonic eventually managed to land the aircraft, knocking over several mail boxes in the process. Shadow and Sonic regrouped with the rest of the heroes and the Resistance. All around robots were fading away.

"Since the other future no longer exists, neither do the robots!" The young fox observed.

"Then that means…" Shadow trailed off as he noticed the members of the Resistance had started to fade.

"Looks like zis iz farewell." Antoine said. Shadow nodded.

"Maybe we'll see you guys around later." Sonic offered.

Sally shook her head. "I'm afraid that will never happen. It was nice meeting you all though."

"It was nice meeting you guys too."

The heroes watched as all of the members of the Resistance faded away. "Alright, now to deal with Rience." Shadow approached the aircraft. He was met halfway by the Chaotix.

"That may be a problem." Vector said with a sheepish grin.

"Why?"

Sonic came running out of the aircraft. "Rience is gone!"


	12. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Brooke and Reince belong to me. All others belong to SEGA.**

-Epilogue-

Sonic had been taking a nice stroll through the park; a nice stroll meaning, a super-fast sprint. He stopped when he noticed a familiar black shape sitting alone on a hill. Sonic raced over to the shape.

"Any luck?" Sonic asked. Shadow shook his head.

"We've spent three days searching for Rience. It's like he disappeared."

Sonic sat down beside Shadow. "Maybe he did. You saw the robots."

Shadow shook his head. "Rience existed in this future too. He wouldn't have disappeared."

They sat in silence until Sonic spoke up again. "You know, this all reminds me off a saying I once heard. 'Kill a fly in the past and it may drastically change the future',"

Shadow smirked. "Kill a rat in the past and save yourself from a stressful future."

Sonic laughed. "Yeah, I guess." He stood up. "I've gotta get going. I promised Tails I'd be back by now. I hope you guys find Rience." Sonic sped off in a streak of blue.

Shadow sighed. "Wherever you are Rience, I will find you. I promise you that."


End file.
